A/N: Once again, I'm not making one little penny, or a bunch of them, on this piece. All characters and references that are Tolkien based are his. Original characters are my own. A large thank-you to the reviewers out there. Your time spent criticquing (sp?) is most appreciated. Please continue.

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Time and Space

Chapter 7



"The time of the Ring had passed.

Middle Earth returned to its own once again.

The Fellowship, though broken, still retained three:

Aragorn, now King of Men;

Gimli, lionhearted Dwarf and friend;

and, Legolas, Elven Prince.

To these three, friendship became more.

Their reliance, their trust, their faith in eachother

endured through all.

Until the one day when a new darkness came

a darkness forged not with metal,

nor with army,

but with one single word:

time.



I could feel a change. It was not in the air or ground, but elsewhere, as though it flowed through and into me. Gimli, my dear companion, also felt it. We rode swiftly to the land of Gondor, anxious to meet with Elessar to discuss it. We found that he, too, had felt the change, as though something were approaching.

'What can it be?' I inquired. 'Had we all not defeated Sauron? Had not all evil been destroyed from Middle Earth?'

'It would seem not,' Elessar replied. He turned to his wife, Arwen, hoping for reassurance.

She shook her head. 'This is something beyond us,' she replied. 'Beyond anything any Elf has seen.'

There was little for us to do but wait. Gimli and myself were treated as though brothers to the King and given everything we desired. The days passed into weeks and weeks into months. We began to speak less of the impeding evil, but it remained within me, gnawing at my mind, never leaving me alone.

Until one day, it arrived.

More precisely, one early morning.

I had been the first to notice, my Elven senses detecting it before mortals could. The tremor was light at first, but began to grow. Roused from their sleep, both friends watched with me from the high window as the rising sun slowly darkened. Its warm rays were disfigured and horribly changed to rays of cold and pain. The beauty of the sun was now ugly.

'This is not good,' Gimli stated. Aragorn only nodded his agreement. We all looked upon one another.

'What are we to do?' I inquired.

Aragorn thought upon this for some time. 'The children have been taken to safe places. The women and old now care for them.' I believe he had been insistent upon this when Gimli and I first arrived. He wanted no harm to innocents. We had all had enough of that.

'No army will defeat this!' Gimli cried. 'This is magic.'

I agreed. 'Perhaps Sauron had not been truly defeated.' Any desire by him for revenge would surely destroy us all.

Elessar shook his head no. 'He was. This is something new and entirely different.' I could see his worry clearly on his face as he leaned out the window. 'It is an evil new to the world.'

'We cannot just stand here. We must do something!' Gimli heaved his axe, ready for battle.

I laid a hand on my friend's shoulder. 'You yourself said only moments ago that no army could defeat this.'

He looked up at me. 'Nay, no army, but I am not an army. I am a Dwarf!'

I smiled at him. Always so stalwart. He never let his fears overcome him.

Elessar smiled as well. 'Perhaps my friend, we will encounter this evil. Discover why it has come to us.' He looked to me and I knew what he thought.

'You intend to go after it.' Arwen wrapped her arm around his upon my statement. 'You cannot do such a thing. You are King. Your place is with your people.'

He held Arwen's hand between his own. 'It is for my people that I must go.' The love between them was a strong as ever it was. He kissed her forehead.

'A touching moment.'

We all turned at once to the voice behind us.

______________

Legolas sighed heavily, stopping his tale.

There was nothing I could say. No words could adequately describe how his story moved me. He poured himself into it, his every emotion coming through as he told of the new evil. I watched him, watched his body shiver, his hands shake ever so lightly as he remembered the event. Part of me wanted to hold him and tell him that he was safe, but I couldn't. We both knew he wasn't safe, not by a long shot.

He finally looked at me, his eyes pained. "It...he..." His voice trailed off and I could see the tear falling down his perfect cheek. He took a shakey breath, wiped his eyes and regained his composure. He then looked around him. "It is nearly dark."

I finally noticed. We had spent the entire day together and it had only felt like moments. This man, Legolas, had completely engaged me.

We rose and I nearly fell back down again when Legolas held my arm, softly but with conviction. "I cannot go back."

I blinked several times, finally getting his meaning. "No. You don't have to. You can come home with me tonight."

His expression soften. "You are a kind person, Kaitlin Myers." He released my arm and began walking back to the car. He turned suddenly. "Can we go fast again?"

My thirteen shades of red quickly dissipated into a wide grin. "Okay, but let me drive this time, alright?"



"Would you like something to drink?" I asked as I put my keys on the kitchen table. "Water? Tea?" I would have offered coffee if I had the stuff. Never much cared for it.

When I didn't hear an answer, I went into the living room. He was in "kid" mode again, examining every little piece of anything he could. His eyes were permanently widened in looking at my possessions. He held a wooden whale I bought on the west coast and examined the markings. "It's Haida," I said. "One of the west coast bands. Some of their work is great."

He looked up quickly, as though he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Oh." He hasitly put the object down. I only smiled. "Feel free to look at anything you want. My house is your house."

He took me up on my offer. Half an hour later, I had described virtually everything in the living room and kitchen. "What is back there?" He walked down the hallway.

"Oh that's the bedroom and my work room." I followed him down. He made his way for my room, but I shut the door before he could get a good look. "Uh, it's kinda messy." He didn't say anything, instead going into the second room.

He browsed around, not really interested in much. "It's not exciting, I know, but it allows me to get a lot of work done." He only nodded.

"This home," he said as we re-entered the living room, "is very like you."

"How do you mean?"

He gestured to a few objects. "These are natural. Elements of the earth. And these," he pointed towards the wall hangings, "are of earthern design." He turned to me. "You are a creature of the earth, but like your kind, you have unnatural things also." He pointed past me. "That room. That com-pu-ter, as you call it. It does not fit well into this house."

I shrugged. "I need it to help me with my work." I avoided telling him about my research on Tolkien. Didn't seem quite appropriate somehow.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?"

He nodded. "Do you have any clean water?"

"I'm sure I can find some that will suit Your Highness." I stopped. Would he appreciate or understand the humour? I waited a beat before turning. "I didn't mean for that..."

He held his nose high in the air, his hand held limp for me to kiss it. "His Highness will accept your apology for being so rude." If he had held the pose any longer, I would have thought him serious, but the smile that broke out told me the truth. And I smiled in return. He was at ease with me and I with him. We were like two friends sharing a laugh. It felt wonderful.



As much as I wanted Legolas to continue his story, his curiosity got the better of him. I thought his reaction of my photographs was interesting, but they had nothing on his last discovery: my movie collection. He insisted upon watching at least three. He marvelled at the idea of people being captured and put onto film then relayed through a "black shiny box". So we sat for a good five hours watching the movies. I decided to indulge him with the traditional popcorn, though his reaction was less than what I anticipated.

"This is what you eat while watching these plays?" He looked disgustedly at the butter soaked white puffs.

"Sure. People all over the world enjoy it. Just try it." I popped a handful. He hesitatingly took a small nibble, waited for the flavour then finished the piece off. "Interesting."

"Come on," I prodded, "you like it."

"It's not the worst thing your people have here." The Cheshire cat had nothing on me.



The issue of sleeping arrangements basically solved itself: I fell asleep on the couch. When morning came, I found Legolas dozing next to me. God, even in the morning he looked perfect. Only a few hairs were out of place. And I could see that his light was returning. He did seem to glow a bit brighter, but perhaps that was just the morning light streaming through the window. Regardless, he was certainly a wondeful sight to behold.

I rose quietly and made some tea. Taking it to the back patio, I sat on a chair and brought my feet up. The drink was warm going down my throat and it felt good. A few birds on the wire chatted away, toying with the cat below, daring it to jump. The cat gave up. I could hear my neighbours music as he began his new day. He loved Debusey and played it every morning. This morning, however, it seemed appropriate. The sun was out, first morning in a long while, the sky was clear and the whole feel was fresh and clean. I closed my eyes and let it all come to me, enveloping me with a renewed spirit.

"What is that?" a voice called from the door. I jumped, not hearing Legolas rising.

"Oh. Uh, Debusey. Classical composer of the 1800's." I glanced over and found Legolas staring off, his head swaying lightly to the sounds. "Do you like it?"

"Mm. We don't have anything like that in Mirkwood. I wish we did."

"Come, sit down." I gestured to the other chair. He noiselessly eased down, always experiencing the music. "Tea?"

"Yes," he breathed.

A few minutes later, I returned with a mug, steaming with the slightly cool air. As he reached for it, our fingers touched. The power of it caused the mug to fall, spilling tea everywhere.

But what that touched conveyed to me was beyond my understanding.

To be continued...



Note: please let me know what you think of where I'm going with this. Thanks.